Golden: A Paranormal Romance

by Ellis Marie

  Cam’s body moves in a way I’ve never seen it before, clenching until it looks as though it may shatter. His fingers are vibrating against the table, the knocking sound stretching out between us. I take them in mine and intertwine them, trying to push all the comfort I have through my body and into him, any way to stop the terrified expression that he wears.

  He looks at me gratefully, squeezing my hand back. He stills a little, managing to take deep breaths.

  “What was it, Cam?”

  “Hunters. Professional hunters, and a lot of them at that.”

  The fear that settles over me makes my blood run cold and my stomach jump into my throat. There are hunters. Real-life, terrifying hunters who went out of their way to kill.

  To kill werewolves. To kill Cam. To kill Trent.

  “How did they not get you?” I ask, trying to think of ways to understand exactly how I’m meant to go outside my door and survive knowing what is happening out there.

  “I got really lucky,” Cam explains. “The noise I heard was out of the clearing and turned out to just be a rabbit. By the time I went to turn back, they already moved in on him and didn’t realise I was there.”

  “You say there were professionals yet you walked right past them . . . that sounds convenient,” Trent states, his voice low and almost accusing. I stare at him in shock, not believing that he’s about to try and blame Cam for this.

  “Cam wouldn’t hurt anyone,” I answer back before he can say another word. It seems to stop him. He takes in my fierce expression and the way my hands are welded to Cam’s and holds his tongue.

  Fight me, Trent.

  “How do you know they were professional?” Trent continues once I break eye contact with him. I look at Cole reassuringly, ignoring my anger for the boys who clearly think they’re better than my best friend.

  “They had weapons that weren’t just picked up out the blue.” He removes one of his hands from mine and goes into his pocket, pulling something out, which he hands to Trent. “This was in his chest. It’s coated at the bottom.”

  The item is a metal arrow, the design glistening as if it’s wet. It looks daunting, and I try to ignore the blood that’s dried at the top of it, not wanting to think of the body that it has been yanked from. Trent takes it but quickly drops it onto the table, hissing as wisps of smoke drift up from his hand where his skin made contact.

  “Wolfsbane,” he growls, showing the blisters to Cole, but they quickly heal and disappear. His hand looks as good as new.

  This is going to take a while to get used to. Could he cut off a limb and grow it back?

  If they get stabbed, would they all just pull it back out like it’s nothing?

  The boys have their heads together, discussing most likely the weapon in their hands or the hunters that seem to be living among us, but I can’t hear them. There’s a ringing in my ears as my eyes stay focused on Trent’s hand and my fingers tingle.

  I stand up quickly. All the conversation stops as everyone looks at me.

  “I-I just . . . I need water.”

  I bolt out of there so fast that I knock over my chair in the process, but I don’t hesitate and make my way inside, rushing to the sink and running the tap as soon as I reach it, splashing cold water onto my face.

  Werewolves are real. People can heal in a blink. You’re not going crazy.

  I whisper it to myself, ignoring the cold water dripping down my arms and into my sleeves, my fingers turning numb.

  Hunters are real. People are in danger. The dangers you thought you knew aren’t the only ones.

  “Are you okay?”

  The voice snaps me out of the trance I’ve put myself in, and the soft hand on my back steadies me. A towel appears in my vision. I take it gently, shaking the water out of my eyes before dabbing my face, slightly embarrassed at how I’ve been caught.

  “You know, you look like sh*t.”

  I sigh. “Thanks, Lou.”

  The boy chuckles and leans on to one of the poles his arms are strapped to, his eyes raking over my body as if he’s solving a riddle.

  “You know about werewolves then?” he guesses. I let out a laugh, throwing the towel down on the counter and brushing my hands on my jeans.

  “How could you tell?” I reply sarcastically. He snorts a laugh before nodding at the water marks on my top.

  “It’s not the first ‘oh-em-gee werewolves are real’ breakdown I’ve witnessed in my life.” He chuckles, sitting down on the stool beside me. “If anything, you haven’t cried yet, which is usually the first thing. What set you off?”

  “His hand healed,” I answer slowly, sitting beside him. “One minute, it was blistered and broken and then suddenly . . .”

  “It was perfectly fine? Yeah, that’s our healing abilities. We can pretty much heal from anything, apart from a few specific weapons and injuries, but those are rare.”

  I nod, following him. Questions swim around my head, and I stumble at the casualness that he says it all with. He didn’t pause for a second.

  “So you’re a wolf too?”

  “Everyone in this house is. It’s our pack.”

  There are so many people that moved to our school from East Bay that I definitely haven’t met them all yet. Are they all wolves? Is the entire town? Do they all have supernatural healing abilities that make them stronger than any human I know?

  Without meaning to, my eyes look down at Lou’s leg, taking in the way it bends in the wrong direction halfway down. Lou notices, the smirk dropping from his lips.

  “Wondering how I can be a wolf and be useless at the same time?” he snarls, standing up and moving into me. My stomach clenches as I try to speak but nothing comes out.

  “Wondering how I can be a cripple but be supernatural? Wondering how I fucked it so badly that even fairy-tales can’t fix me?”

  I whimper as he leans into me, his breath in my ear as his hand slams onto the counter. I close my eyes, a little scared of the furious expression that radiates from him.

  “I wasn’t—”

  “Oh, but you were,” he whispers in a tone so cold I feel myself shrink. “Everyone does. Poor Lou, stuck in a body that he should be able to heal but he can’t. So weak and defenceless while everyone around him is top of the food chain.”

  His chuckle makes me flinch.

  “You should be used to that though. After all, you were a punching bag for years, no? And now, you’re in the lion’s den, just a scared little lamb who’s going to end up like me.”

  He grabs my chin and yanks my head up to him, the snarl on his face showing the fury behind his words. I hold back tears as my eyes turn glassy.

  He looks like he hates me.

  “Trent isn’t all he seems to be. Whatever good you see in him is fleeting. How long before you’re turned into a meal, or a toy for one of them to play with when they’re bored, hmm? Or maybe you’ll get taken by your little rogue out there and he’ll do whatever he wants to you like they did to me. They’ll rip you limb from limb.”

  Something moves through the doors, and suddenly, Lou isn’t holding me anymore. Instead, he’s being thrown back into the wall across from me, growls erupting throughout the room as his body is held up with a hand wrapping around his neck.

  “Trent!” I shout as he throws Lou into the wall again. He thrashes against him, his fingers clawing at his neck as I watch the fury engulf both of them. Pieces of the wall fly off it and cracks form throughout it.

  Just how strong are they?

  “What were you saying to her!” Trent yells and the pure power of it knocks me back a few steps, my heart hammering as fear shuts me up. The way his whole body changes shape startles me. I can see the wolf part of him itching to break through. Lou smirks at him and doesn’t say anything. Trent responds by growling and crashing him into the wall again. “Tell me!”

  “I only warned her, I told nothing but the truth,” Lou manages to choke out, his words shaking with hateful laughter as he spits at Trent. “Jus
t telling her how great our precious alpha is.”

  “How dare you disrespect me,” Trent hisses, pressing his face into Lou’s. “I’ve given you so many free passes I’ve lost count, and I will continue to do so when it comes to me, and you know exactly why. But you do not give Elle fear. You do not touch her, and you do not disrespect her. Am I clear?”

  Lou looks at me with disgust in his eyes as his chest heaves with the lack of oxygen he’s getting but doesn’t answer. It’s clearly the wrong thing to do because Trent’s hand tightens, and I watch Lou choke.

  It’s like watching me and Matt.

  The thought passes through my head so quickly I almost don’t catch it, but unfortunately, I do, and it makes a sickening feeling settle in me.

  This is how I looked.

  “Yes, Alpha,” Lou finally coughs out. Trent lets him go, dropping his body to the ground. He crumples beneath him, smacking against the tiles harshly.

  It’s only now that I notice Cam and Cole standing at the door with worry on their faces.

  I reach forward, pain engulfing me at the familiarity of the scene and the boy on the ground, but the glare that Lou shoots me stops me from touching him. He clambers to his feet, struggling to stand as his crutches slip out from under him.

  “Don’t touch me!” he half screams at Cole who lifts him up. As soon as he is steady, he shoves him away, the force of it making me jump.

  “You all think I’m so pathetic,” he accuses, spinning to look at me. “I apologise for my behaviour,” he spits. “Maybe you won’t get turned into a chew toy by accident.”

  “Lou,” Trent warns. Lou shuts up and turns away, sending me one last stabbing glare before he leaves the room, pushing past Cole and Cam.

  “Careful, Alpha,” he throws back with a smirk. “I think you’re scaring her away.”

  His final words make everyone’s heads snap to me. I know that I look petrified whether I can help it or not, the words alone are enough to make me fear the boys in front of me as much as I don’t want them to.

  Trent looks at me, pained by the way my face has fallen at his actions, but I can’t shake it, the thought of him being like that and being stronger and more powerful than anything I can imagine is too much. How could I feel safe around him knowing that he can kill me without even trying?

  Is that what happened to Lou?

  “Elle, I—”

  “I just need a little bit of time to adjust,” I interrupt before he can make me cave under his puppy-dog-like stare. “I’m used to violent men already. I just need to accept that there’s another level.”

  The words taste sour in my mouth, and Trent’s own contorts at them, but I ignore it, grabbing my bag and jacket from the stool as I shove them on quickly. I just need a little bit of space.

  “Cam, take me home?” I ask quietly. He nods without saying anything, ignoring the glare of Trent as he holds out his arm to me and I take it.

  “Elle, please,“ Trent mumbles, reaching for me again. “I’m not like Matt, I would never hurt you.”

  I nod slowly and carefully take his hand, lightly squeezing it before I let it go.

  “Actions speak louder than words. You’re going to need to prove that.”

  He lets us leave without another word. We silently go to the car, not even speaking to each other as we drive. My head is far too wrapped up in itself to comprehend conversation.

  There’s so much that I didn’t know about them, about wolves and about the world that they come from, but I hadn’t thought about all of that at first. Sure, I know that they are going to be strong and be able to turn into an animal at some point, but I hadn’t for a second thought that there would be such things as hunters or packs or even considered how being part wolf would take its toll on them as humans. Is a part of them animal? Is that part stronger than their humanity?

  My mind is in such a haze that it’s not until I’m sitting down in Mrs. Grenway’s house and I can feel her beady eyes staring at me from across the room that I snap out of the mental coma that I’ve put myself in and actually begin to function as a human.

  Cam is nowhere in sight and the steaming cup of tea in front of me lets me know that I’ve been here a little while.

  “Tough day?”

  It’s a simple question, but I stare at her in disbelief, taking in the humoured tone she wears underneath it. I scoff at her. “You think?”

  She smiles and sighs, looking up at the photos decorating her wall. A wave of melancholy settles over her, her eyes shining with memories.

  “I was scared of Ernie, too, at first, you know.” She grins. I settle into my chair, the tea relaxing me as I listen.

  “When we first met, he was married to another wolf, no less, but it was an arranged one, to make a truce between packs. He never thought that he’d have a mate, so he agreed to it. It wasn’t until we met a couple years later that he realised he did have one.”

  The soft smile she wears makes my heart break as the love that they had for each other is clear as day.

  “We couldn’t exactly just wait for him to get a divorce. His father was an alpha, and he refused to let him break the agreement that they had made. He said that it would bring shame onto their family and threatened to have me killed. Wolves often think with their fists first and their brain second; it’s an animal instinct,” she explains with an edge to her voice. “One night, his father sent someone to kill me. e didn’t believe that I was really his mate and said that I’d used a spell to capture Ernie’s heart.” She laughs. “Not like that was even possible by then, I didn’t have much power. A witch needs an event that triggers them to be able to use them to their full extent. Up until then, all I could do was light candles without a match and get the salt without standing up.”

  “But his father was determined. The assassin came, and Ernie killed him. I’ve never watched something so terrifying in all my life. He turned into a beast that I couldn’t even begin to comprehend, and I watched as he was a creature of anger and nothing else.” She shudders at the memory. “He went in such a rage that he took off and went to his father. All he left behind was a body that was so shredded, it was unrecognisable. When the wolf takes over, it’s not very often they can be stopped.”

  She leans forward and takes my hand, urging me to look at her as she lets out a steady breath.

  “I know that what they are is terrifying, and after everything you’ve been through, it’s hard to comprehend how someone can have that much power and anger and not take it out on you, but you need to know that Trent will never hurt you. It’s against every single law of nature to hurt your mate, even in his most ferocious moment. I don’t even think Trent could do it if he tried.”

  “But what about the rest of them? I’m not their mate. What if they get angry or Lou said that rogues could come, or—”

  “My child,” she soothes, pressing her cold hand against my cheek softly as she hushes me. “There are always going to be dangers in the world, more than you even know right now, but you need to realise that Trent and his pack would put their life on the line for you. You just need to wait.”

  “Why for me?” I ask confused. I haven’t even met most of them yet, and it’s clear that Lou has an issue with me. “Why would they do that?”

  She stares at me for a moment before she just smiles and shrugs her shoulders. “It’s a wolf thing. Call it respect for their alpha.”

  I take in her words slowly. I want to believe her, and a very large part of me does, but there’s just this small bundle of fear that sits in me. I know that it stems from Matt and the awful things he has done to me. The memory of my father and his vengeful glare makes me question everything that’s supposed to be right in a family, but for some reason, I can push it down. For some reason, I know that what she says is true and I can never imagine Trent hurting me.

  “You said that an event needs to happen for a witch to get her powers,” I quickly ask before we start talking about Trent again. I wanted to just not think about i
t for a little while. “What was the event that happened for you to get yours?”

  The smile on her face is gone by the time I finish my sentence. I want to take it back, to not ask her the question that seems to hurt her the most, but it’s too late.

  “The night that I was almost killed and Ernie went into a frenzy, he went to his father, I followed him, knowing that he was in a fit of rage and wasn’t thinking straight. When he got there, he and his father fought . . . it was like they were fighting to the death, and it took me a moment to realise that they were.

  Shock fills me. How could a father fight his own son to the death?

  Just like your father tried to kill you. I shake the thoughts away and focus on Mrs. Grenway and her teary eyes.

  “Ernie wasn’t an Alpha. His brother was to become the next one, so he didn’t have quite as much power as his father, and he slowly began to lose the fight. All I could do was stand there and scream and watch as his father tore into him and restrained him. All I remember thinking was that I wish I could do something, I wished for my powers to heighten, and I wished for the strength to beat him through my tears, and it worked. I got my full powers.

  “It happened so quickly that I don’t even remember much. One moment, his father was about to sink his teeth into his neck and then next, he was crumpled in a corner, his body twisted in a way that I can still see so clearly even now. He was dead.”

  The thought of Mrs. Grenway killing someone, let alone the love of her life’s father, is hard to believe but the solemn look in her eyes and the dip of her head tells me that it’s true. She’s still so ashamed by it so many years on.

  “But you saved Ernie’s life,” I comfort, trying to soothe some of the pain for her. “It was self-defence, you didn’t mean to.”

  “You’re such a forgiving and sweet girl.” She smiles sadly. “Just like Ernie. He forgave me straight away. He didn’t even look back at his father as he grabbed me and we ran. I killed the Alpha, and that meant that I’d have an entire pack after me, so we left. The life we led was on the road and on the run, but it was the best life I could have asked for. Your mate is the other part of you; it’s what completes you, and I promise you, Annabelle, you’ll never get anything but love from that boy. You have nothing to fear.”